LEDSGP/Transportation Toolkit/Strategies/Avoid

Avoid, Shift, Improve Framework

The avoid, shift, improve (ASI) framework enables development stakeholders to holistically design low-emission transport strategies by assessing opportunities to avoid the need for travel, shift to less carbon-intensive modes, and improve on conventional technologies, infrastructure, and policies.

Avoid Trips and Reduce Travel Demand

Avoid trips taken and reduce travel demand by integrating land use planning, transport infrastructure planning, and transport demand management policies. This integration of planning and policies can result in convenient access to jobs, goods, and services while decreasing road vehicle usage and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Specific strategies to consider in avoiding travel include:

Telecommuting – Cost-effective solution to reduce pressure on transport systems, eliminate time and stress involved with commuting on congested roadways, and increase access to professionals in remote locations

Shift to Lower-Emission Transport Modes

Changing how people travel and how freight is moved to more environmentally friendly modes of transport, such as non-motorized transport, mass transit, and car sharing, can reduce overall fuel use and emissions per capita.

Non-Motorized Transport - Pedestrian transport is an efficient way to use road space and thus reduces vehicle congestion on roadways, supports the local economy, enhances access to jobs, education and services for the poor, improves health through exercise, and boosts social cohesion. Bicycle travel is historically a common form of transport in many countries. This prevalence is giving way to motorized transport as car ownership expands and more street space is allocated for motorized transport. Bicycle programs ensure allocation of street space for bicycles, safety enhancements, interconnection with other transport modes, and many of the benefits associated with increased pedestrian transport.

Mass Transit - Bus transit systems are the most common form of mass transit, proving viable in urban and rural areas, and so play a fundamental role in meeting both basic transport demands and low emissions transport objectives by connecting with all forms of transit - motorized & non-motorized. Train or rail-based transit systems can be the most efficient form of passenger transport if population density is sufficiently high. Rail transport for freight can also be more time- and cost-efficient than road-based freight transit. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems share similar advantages to passenger train systems by employing high-occupancy buses for high density areas along dedicated routes and stations, however at a lower infrastructure and operational cost.

Under the ASI framework, the conventional interpretation of transportation technology is broadened beyond traditional improvements to vehicles and fuels. Improvements made to technologies under this framework include the: vehicle level, system level, and institutional level.

Get the Details

Find tools and resources to build low emission development strategies in transportation.

FIND TOOLS

ledsgp.org is built on the same platform as the popular Wikipedia site. Like Wikipedia, it is a "wiki" or website developed collaboratively by a community of users. Thanks to our unique relationship with OpenEI.org, you can add or edit most content on ledsgp.org. For more information about this unique collaboration, contact us. View or edit this page on OpenEI.org.